Ovation News

Les Mis has been in London almost as long as I have - here's how we have grown old together.

The 29th Annual LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards, celebrating theatrical excellence and achievement throughout Los Angeles, were presented on Monday, January 28, at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown LA.

Artistic Director and Chair of the CSULB Theatre Arts Department Jeff Janisheski continues his 3rd season strengthening partnerships with artists in our community.  This season features artists from across the creative spectrum: Welcoming professional directors such has Ovation-nominated Kari Hayter and Bootleg Theater co-founder Jessica Hanna, and Bruce A Lemon Jr., Artistic Director of Watts Village Theater. Jeff Janisheski says, "Cal Rep's spring season celebrates community: those that are already in our orbit, the new voices we champion, and the community partners and artists we want to work with."

Musical theatre writer/performer, Brett Ryback (Passing Through, Murder for Two) has teamed with former Nickelodeon songwriters Matt Sav and Jeff Luppino-Esposito to develop a narrative musical podcast titled In Strange Woods, to be released later this year.

2Cents Theatre Group is set to kick off its 2019 site-specific season with a unique production of David Lindsay-Abaire's Rabbit Hole, a stunning journey through grief, the search for comfort, and the rebirth of hope. Under the direction of 2Cents artistic director Kristen Boul , there will be one preview performance on Friday, February 8, at 8pm, and opening is set for Saturday, February 9, at 8pm. The engagement will run through March 10 only.

In recent years, Center for the Arts has certainly upped the ante with musical productions which have, consistently, been better than the one before, raising the bar for all the shows still to come. Case in point: Disney's Newsies, which closed its sold-out run in Murfreesboro on Sunday.

Since 1996, Center Theatre Group has recognized and celebrated local theatre artists with the Richard E. Sherwood Award. In 2018 Dorothy Sherwood, Richard's wife and fellow champion of innovative and adventurous theatre artists passed away. To honor the passion and dedication of both patrons of the arts, the award has been renamed the Dorothy and Richard E. Sherwood Award.

The Actors' Gang Theater presents an exhibition featuring the artworks of Ralph Steadman and Dario Fo, to accompany the run of ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST, which will open this Saturday, February 2nd and will continue until March 9th. Written by Italian playwright and Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo, translated by Jon Laskin and Michael Aquilante and directed by Will Thomas McFadden, the play began its run on Thursday, January 24th.

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As most people know with live theater, there is an underlying risk in promoting that a specific star will be there at every single performance, as advertised in a specific project. Unfortunately, that's simply not realistic nor is it always going to be the case, due to a multitude of factors beyond anyone's control. To those worried about a future date in the national tour's run in which they will have to miss Ms. Buckley in the title role for any reason (which was recently the case during several days of a week-long engagement in Costa Mesa), I have two words for you: don't worry. As bummed as I was not being able to see Ms. Buckley's long-anticipated take on Dolly Levi (and I really really wanted to see Ms. Buckley), her admirable understudy Ms. Sheridan is a terrific, wonderfully game substitute. But as much as Ms. Buckley was, perhaps, a huge draw for many to come check out yet another production of this timeless classic, what audiences will end up experiencing as a whole when they stay is just as equally important a reason to see this brand new revival. Be sure to stick around and behold the wonders of this genuinely entertaining musical classic-from its unforgettable score and visual appeal, to its laugh-inducing silliness and cheeky fun.

The 29th Annual LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards, celebrating theatrical excellence and achievement throughout Los Angeles, were presented on Monday, January 28, at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison and Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents), an organization which has been leading the gender parity conversation and championing women in the professional theatre for over 35 years, will present the 2019 Theatre Women Awards at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture (18 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012) on Monday, March 25 at 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm). For more information on the 2019 Theatre Women Awards, and to purchase tickets, please visit www.theatrewomen.org. 

BroadwayWorld has a first look at the new national touring company of CATS! The Jellicle Cats include Phillip Deceus as 'Alonzo,' McGee Maddox as 'Bill BaileyRum Tum Tugger,' Lexie Plath as 'Bombalurina,' Mariah Reives as 'Cassandra,' PJ DiGaetano as 'Coricopat,' Liz Schmitz as 'Demeter,' Keri Rene Fuller as 'Grizabella,' Kaitlyn Davidson as 'Jellylorum,' Emily Jeanne Phillips as 'Jennyanydots,' Tion Gaston as 'Mistoffelees,' Tony D'Alelio as 'Mungojerrie,' Dan Hoy as 'Munkustrap,' Timothy Gulan as 'PeterBustopher JonesAsparagus,' Tyler John Logan as 'PlatoMacavity,' Anthony Michael Zas as 'Pouncival,' Rose Iannaccone as 'Rumpelteazer,' Ahren Victory as 'Sillabub,' Ethan Saviet as 'Skimbleshanks,' Halli Toland as 'Tantomile,' Devin Neilson as 'Tumblebrutus,' Brandon Michael Nase as 'VictorOld Deuteronomy,' Caitlin Bond as 'Victoria,' along with Zachary S. Berger, Nicholas Burrage, Erin Chupinsky, Maria Failla, Justin W. Geiss, Charlotte O'Dowd, Adam Richardson, Tricia Tanguy, and Andy Zimmermann.

Guys and Dolls is possibly the most frequently produced musical in the world. Since its Broadway debut in 1950, it has had numerous revivals on Broadway and the West End, and it has been tackled by just about every high school, college, and community theatre in the world. Fortunately, its popularity is justified, and it might become just a bit more popular in Palm Springs because of the production currently playing at the Palm Canyon Theatre. It has filled the house and been greeted with a standing ovation almost every performance in its first two weeks.

Imagine rehearsing a show with a Tony Award-winning score for months, only to learn you'd have the opportunity to sing the part for the man who made it. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity became reality for Sarah Gliko and Greg Goodbrod, who play Francesca and Robert in Philadelphia Theatre Company's upcoming production of The Bridges of Madison County.

Garry Marshall Theatre presents the West End and Broadway play The Mountaintop by Katori Hall.  The Mountaintop is directed by Gregg T. Daniel, who recently staged A Raisin in the Sun at A Noise Within (Ovation Award nomination for Best Director) and Her Portmanteau at Boston Court.

Rubicon Theatre Company opens the 2019 season with HEISENBERG by playwright SIMON STEPHENS, a quirky romance starring Ovation Award-winner FALINE ENGLAND and Emmy and L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award-winner JOE SPANO. Sweet, sexy and full of surprises, the story follows two strangers whose lives intersect in a bustling London train station.

Quintessence Theatre Group, a professional theatre company located in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia, has comprised an ensemble of all-star performers to star in their upcoming production of Clifford Odets' classic drama AWAKE AND SING!

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced the full cast and creative team for Metamorphoses. This co-production with the Guthrie Theater is led by nationally and internationally renowned writer and director Mary Zimmerman.

Tonight, FOX will air their third live musical production. Following in the footsteps of Grease and A Christmas Story, the network will be presenting Jonathan Larson's Rent, a rock musical that is loosely based on Giacomo Puccini's 1896 opera, La boheme. The story follows a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in New York City's East Village in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.